Twitter and the new era

I know this blog is a space that normally discusses our film but over the last seven days I have been completely consumed by the events in Iran and today I felt compelled not to be limited to 140 characters…while I understand as those on twitter retweeted thousands of times, “140 characters is a novel when your being shot at” I am lucky to not have bullets, passing, grazing or hitting me…so today I wanted more that 140 character to explain my feelings about the events of the past seven days.

To be quite honest I was not aware that an election was happening in Iran, I was too busy with ENTRE NOS, too busy traveling and too busy writing my next film to follow the elections of Iran. I woke up seven days ago and while I laid in bed I checked my facebook page from my iPhone (as I do almost every morning) and read an update that said, “I feel the way I did on Nov 2 2004..heartbroken, depressed and shocked..” I was curious and wondered what might have happened in the world that made this person feel this way.

By now I have been informed of world events via twitter or facebook many times, Tim Russert’s death, the plane going down off of Brazil..that when I read the update I knew something had to have happened in the world. Soon enough I began to understand the magnitude of the situation in Iran. After hours and hours of research I soon realized the most reliable information was what was being said on twitter. I did some work and was soon able to secure my “sources” on twitter. The information I was gathering was mind boggling and I passed on what I knew to my people via my updates on twitter and facebook. I couldn’t stop reading the updates on twitter…when they asked me to change my location to Terhan so the Iranian government would be confused I did so, when they asked me to hack government websites I passed on the request to people that could do it…when they asked me not to retweet their names because they were in danger I started to reweet “ from Iran”. I did what I could do while being on the other side of the world, with a computer and access to information.

My boyfriend asked me why was I so obsessed with what was happening, I had never shown any interest in the political situation in Iran…not more than the basic understanding of the history and the current situation…so why now?

It is hard to put into words why I’m being kept up at night, why I’m dreaming about the people that I know by there user names…why I get a knot in my stomach if I don’t see updates from these people for a long period of time..but now after watching the most horrific video of a young woman dying on the streets of Terhan, after watching the blood gurgle up from her mouth and covering her entire face, after looking into her eyes seconds before she took her last breath…after absorbing the fact that I just witnessed a young woman die before my eyes.. I can say that I have been engaged because all I can do is bare witness for my brothers and sisters. I am not Persian, I am not Muslim but I feel connected to these people, I feel they are fighting their own battle but they are also fighting mine. Mine because I and we are now connected with the world in a way we never were before, boundaries do not exist and everything has the power to be personal. No longer can we deny that what we do on one side of the world doesn’t affect someone else when we can speak with those that are being affected.

It’s amazing to me how twitter is responsible for this new era we are entering. I never would have thought twitter would have the power to effect change but it does and it has. We are now a part of this moment of change because we have become the messengers of the truth.

I want peace for Iran but I also understand that there comes a time when the people will demand peace by any means necessary and it seems that time has come in Iran.

Paola

Newport loved us!

We are very happy to announce that ENTRE NOS won the AUDIENCE Award at the Newport International Film Festival!!!! We were thrilled with the news and as always very humbled by the award.

Congrats to all that worked on film....stay tuned to find out were we will be next!

The plane is falling!

Yesterday on my flight from Bogota I thought I was going to die. Now I know I have a tendency to be over dramatic (hence why I am an actress) but I promise you I really did think my life was going to end on that flight. So, what happened you ask?…well all was going fine, a smooth flight…I was reading a really good script about two misfits and how they find love and then all of a sudden the plane drops and when I say drop, I mean DROPS, the lady behind me starts screaming and crying to God, I grab my arm rest and repeat over and over to myself, “everything is going to fine, everything is going to be fine…” but all does not feel fine, the plane is shaking violently up, down left, right, the sounds of everything crashing about inside of the plane only add to the chaos, and then we DROP again, this time even more than the first time! The woman is now screeching at the top of her lungs and the plane is shaking much worse than before. My heart is racing a mile a minute and then I have the thought that is not my life, this cannot be happening to me at this moment, not like this, not now. I begin to have this weird outer body experience. I don’t see myself sitting in the plane instead I really truly try to make myself believe that this is not my life, not at this moment. The plane continues to shake violently and all I can say is, “no, no no, no, no” and just as suddenly as the thrashing came it stops. I open my eyes ( I didn’t even realize they were closed) and I look straight ahead. I couldn’t bare to look at anyone, contact with someone would have forced me to acknowledge that this was in fact my life and I was thousands of miles above the ocean and I still had two hours left of my flight. There was an eerie silence on the plane. The captain never came over the PA system to explain what happened, instead he ordered the flight attendant to sit down until further notice and then sent someone from his crew to inspect the cabin. The man walked slowly around the entire plane and didn’t say a word to anyone. Once in a while the plane would experience turbulence but nothing like that initial scare. I have traveled all around the world and don’t have a fear of flying but whenever we encounter turbulence I can easily shake it off. I continue reading my book, watching my movie, or writing…but this shook me my core. When the plane made the slightest movement my heart would leap out of my chest and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. It was complete torture….nothing short of torture The only thing that was able to calm me was my camera. I pulled out my digital camera and looked at pictures of my lover and partner in crime in everything and his image soothed me. His smile calmed me, our memories comforted me…it was that camera and those pictures that allowed me to survive that terrible flight without having a panic attack.

After much reflection I was pleasantly surprised with my response to my near death experience. In that moment when I truly thought it was the end I didn’t wish I had done something different with my life, I didn’t have a regret that I wish I could change, I didn’t happily accept that the end was coming…instead I thought NOOOOOO, not now. I am happy. I love the life I live, I love the person I am with. I love what I do and I still have so much more to do.

So while I would NEVER want to experience that fear again, I am happy it happened. That dreadful moment confirmed for me that I am on the correct path, doing what I am meant to do and trying to contribute to the world and make is a better place and in the end that is the only thing that matters…. When the end does come…I can only hope it won’t be on a plane but instead in my finca in Colombia when I am 104 years old.